Hello,
With HS polo right around the corner, I’m here to get the conversation started about the 2025 season! I’ll be starting off with a breakdown of CCS.
Player is a senior if a year is not stated…..
PCAL
With Pacific Grove having more of a rebuilding year this fall, Stevenson and Carmel are the two clear favorites to win the PCAL banner in 2025. Carmel will look to maintain their momentum from last year’s league tournament win with over half of their starting lineup returning. Stevenson returns their top scorer from the past two seasons.
Stevenson
Laird Welch (PCAL Co-Offensive POY 2023 & 2024)
Ze Franz (G) 2027
Carmel
Jack Balas (All-PCAL 2023 & 2024)
Sam Balas 2028
Marc Kalman-Zulik
Landon Onitsuka
SCCAL
The landscape of the Santa Cruz league looks no different in 2025, with Soquel and Santa Cruz lined up to meet in the league championship once again. Santa Cruz has some good talent hanging around from their squad that made open division last season. Soquel has benefitted from some transfers, making 2025 a reloading year for the Knights.
Soquel
Rafael Suarez-Abraham (G) 2027 (Aptos transfer, 1st team All-SCCAL 2023)
Gabriel Suarez-Abraham 2027 (Aptos transfer, 2nd team All-SCCAL 2023)
Stryder Stelck (1st team All-SCCAL 2023 & 2024, CCS HM 2023)
Tanner Connors (2nd team All-SCCAL 2024)
Sam Robertson (SCCAL HM 2024)
Cane Mitchell (SCCAL HM 2024)
Santa Cruz
Hayden Johnson (1st team All-SCCAL 2022, 2023, & 2024, CCS HM 2023 & 3rd team 2024)
Nikolaus Kay (2nd team All-SCCAL 2023 & HM 2024)
Tate Wilson (1st Team All SCCAL 2023, HM 2024)
Laird Bowser (G) 2027 (2nd team All-SCCAL 2024)
Xavier Hunter 2027 (2nd team All SCCAL 2024)
BVAL
Pioneer and Leland are set to match up in the BVAL championship game for the 3rd season in a row. Pioneer returns their top 2 scorers from 2024, who accounted for over 60% of the team’s goals. Leland returns one of the top players in the section.
Leland
Louis DeScioli (BVAL SOPH OTY 2023 & MVP 2024, CCS HM 2022, 3rd team 2023, HM 2024)
Jake Primmer (2nd team All-BVAL 2023, 1st team 2024)
Calvin Sridhara 2028 (2nd team All-BVAL 2024)
Devin Cosgrove (2nd team All-BVAL 2024)
Pioneer
Dylan Spence (2nd team All-BVAL 2022, 1st team 2023, Co-JR OTY 2024, CCS HM 2024)
Jake Schweizer (2nd team All-BVAL 2022 & 2023, Co-JR OTY 2024, 2nd team All-CCS 2024)
Gavin Armbruster (1st team All-BVAL 2024)
PAL
There are 5 solid PAL teams that are hungry to finish top 3 in league and advance to the CCS playoffs. M-A, Hillsdale and Woodside have some pieces returning that will help them stay competitive. Burlingame returns their whole squad from 2024, and Sequoia returns the league MVP from last fall.
Hillsdale
Tanner Heidenreich (2nd team All-PAL 2024)
Isaiah Yeager (1st team All-PAL)
Callum North (PAL HM 2024)
Parker Lee 2028
Woodside
Will Stevenson 2027 (2nd team All-PAL 2023 & 2024)
James Richards 2027
Miles Moore 2027
M-A
Evan Ten Vaanholt (1st team All-PAL 2024)
Navid Riahi 2027
Spencer Harding 2027
Sequoia
AJ McDonald 2027 (PAL MVP 2024, CCS HM 2024)
Alexi Bonnet 2027 (2nd team All-PAL 2024)
Matteo Chocano 2027 (2nd team All-PAL 2024)
Cole Hymer (G) 2027 (PAL HM 2024)
Burlingame
Adrian Gong (2nd team All-PAL 2024)
Matt Derossett (2nd team All-PAL 2024)
Lucas Carlson 2027 (PAL HM 2024)
SCVAL
This league has been unpredictable the past few years. Los Gatos returns most of their 2024 squad and are determined to win the league tournament after coming up short the past two seasons. Los Altos will look to challenge LG with a solid crew coming back. Harker returns one of the best goalies in the section but will need their supporting players to step up. Gunn and Palo Alto will likely battle it out for the last automatic CCS bid for SCVAL.
Los Gatos
Mathijs Dirven (1st team All-SCVAL 2023 & 2024, 3rd team All-CCS 2023, 1st team All-CCS 2024, Santa Clara commit)
Ryan Madsen (SCVAL HM 2022, 1st team All-SCVAL 2023 & 2024, 3rd team All-CCS 2023, 2nd team All-CCS 2024)
Richard Runge 2027 (1st team All-SCVAL & 3rd team All-CCS 2024)
Henry Bakota (1st team All-SCVAL 2024)
Dominic Hwang (G) 2028 (Bellarmine transfer)
Los Altos
Ferran De Witt (1st team All-SCVAL 2023 & CCS HM 2023 & 2024)
Tiernan Braun (1st team All-SCVAL 2024)
Benji Barkovich (1st team All-SCVAL 2024)
Milo Crosby (G)
Colby Sims
Harker
Alejandro Cheline (G) (1st team All-SCVAL 2023 & Most Valuable Goalie 2024, CCS HM 2023 & 2nd team 2024)
Ian Cheline 2027 (1st team All-SCVAL & 3rd team All-CCS 2024)
Ossi Carrico 2028 (1st team All-SCVAL 2024)
Akash Dubey 2027
Aden Liu 2028
Palo Alto
Rylie Reklis 2027 (1st team All-SCVAL 2024)
Felix Ryans
Gunn
Jules Nagayama
WCAL
Last fall all 8 teams from WCAL went to CCS, which is certainly a rare occurrence for the same league to get both of the available at-large bids. SHP looks to be dominant once again and are on track to win their 14th consecutive CCS title. Menlo returns all but 1 starter from 2024, the Knights are also one of the youngest squads in NorCal. St. Francis is coming off a very strong season, pushing SHP to the very end multiple times last fall. Valley Christian looks promising with a lot of returners plus some key incoming freshmen and transfers. Bellarmine, Mitty and Serra should also have some good battles with each other and the rest of the league this year.
SHP
Oliver Marcin (1st team All-WCAL 2023 & 2024, 1st team All-CCS 2023 & MVP 2024
Clay Carrington (1st team All-WCAL 2023 & 2024, 2nd team All-CCS 2023 & 1st team All-CCS 2024)
Murdoch Baker-Matsuoka (G) (2nd team All-WCAL 2023 & 2024, 2nd team All-CCS 2023 & 1st team All-CCS 2024)
Gates Gamble 2027 (2nd team All-WCAL & 3rd team All-CCS 2024)
Eddie Eiref 2027
Ryan Karr
Charlie Wagner 2027
Teddy Parrett 2027
David Edelman
Menlo
Hunter Coleman 2028 (1st team All-WCAL & 1st team All-CCS 2024)
Connor Burks (G) (3rd team All-CCS 2024)
Alex Stoffel (WCAL HM 2023, CCS HM 2023 & 2024)
Calvin Barad (2nd team All-WCAL & 3rd team All-CCS 2024)
Adam Afar 2028
Lincoln Bott 2028
St. Francis
Finn Swanson (1st team All-WCAL & 1st team All-CCS 2024)
Ari Rosenfeld (G) 2027 (3rd team All-CCS 2024)
Darius Sayar (WCAL & CCS HM 2024)
Rollan Tannert 2028
Cooper Ebbitt
Johnny Carr
Valley Christian
Chase Blitzer (WCAL & CCS HM 2024)
Micah Hernandez (WCAL HM 2023)
Darius Deac
Joseph Shin
Roshan Khanna (G)
Bellarmine
Kosta Ceprnic (2nd team All-WCAL & CCS HM 2024)
Ari Schechtman (G)
Dax Zucek 2027
Emilio Olavarria
Romin Amburgey (G) 2028
Andrew Ischanov 2028
Mitty
Tucker Gavin (1st team All-WCAL 2023, 2nd team All-WCAL 2024, 3rd team All-CCS 2023 & CCS HM 2024)
Gordon Vernooy (WCAL HM 2022 & 2023, 2nd team All-WCAL & CCS HM 2024)
Zayn Latif (WCAL HM 2024)
Chase Zanghi 2027
Bryce Rapport 2027
Jonathan Shoykhet 2028
Serra
Colin Wright 2027 (2nd team All-WCAL & CCS HM 2024)
Henry Graham
Sully Kinney
Rhys Salma (G)
Grant Goodrich
St. Ignatius
Ryan Cole 2027
Nick Rodoni
Ben Elson (G) 2028